The Forrest McDonald Band -- "Turnaround Blues"

Here's something I didn't know--the great guitar work on Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll" and Bobby Womack's "Roads Of Life" was by this guy--Forrest McDonald. He was born in Texas, and has played guitar for almost 50 years. He was a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and for a time the guitarist for Kathi McDonald and Bonnie Bramlett, Jimmy Reed Jr and Bobby Womack.

And now he has released "Turnaround Blues," his 12th cd on World Talent Records.  This is a seriously good cd--good song writing, (most of both by Mr McDonald), good singing (mostly by Andrew Black and sometimes by Jon Liebman), and loads of good playing by everybody. The rhythm section is Lee Gammon on bass, John McKnight on drums, and Tony Carey on keyboards. Special guests include Darrell Cobb, (vocals and guitar on "Stay Or Walk Away")  Rich Ianucci (keyboards on "Checking On My Baby" and "R&R By Bye Bye") and John Schwenke (bass on "River Of Tears").

There is a lot of really good blues music on this disc. It's a Forrest McDonald release, and the guitar work throughout is stellar, but these guys play together as a band. There is room here for great turns on vocals, harp, and keyboard. I especially enjoyed their cover of Junior Wells' "Checking On My Baby," where Jon Liebman just channels Junior's feel on harp, and "River Of Tears," which is just smoking from start to finish,  and "Funny Thing Baby," which Forrest dedicates to Toy Caldwell, who was the great guitar player for the Marshall Tucker Band. The cover of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "V-8 Ford" is terrific--here it is transformed from a country blues lament into a sizzling electric blues workout with solid solos by harp, guitar and  keyboard.

Good stuff. Check it out. You can buy this cd at: http://www.forrestmcdonald.com